Trust Investment Advisors Has $2.66 Million Stock Position in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW)

Trust Investment Advisors increased its stake in Palo Alto Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) by 99.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,621 shares of the network technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,288 shares during the period. Palo Alto Networks makes up approximately 1.7% of Trust Investment Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Trust Investment Advisors’ holdings in Palo Alto Networks were worth $2,660,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PANW. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Palo Alto Networks by 104.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 61,233,907 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $11,142,122,000 after buying an additional 31,281,359 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its position in Palo Alto Networks by 83.0% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 5,759,689 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $1,048,033,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,474 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 109.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,202,926 shares of the network technology company’s stock valued at $764,764,000 after acquiring an additional 2,197,765 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks in the 4th quarter worth about $388,155,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Palo Alto Networks by 199.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,822,336 shares of the network technology company’s stock worth $333,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,213,073 shares during the period. 79.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Palo Alto Networks Trading Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ:PANW opened at $189.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $125.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 107.01, a PEG ratio of 5.64 and a beta of 1.04. Palo Alto Networks, Inc. has a 12 month low of $132.50 and a 12 month high of $208.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $187.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $185.38.

Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ:PANW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The network technology company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.06. Palo Alto Networks had a return on equity of 21.93% and a net margin of 14.64%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.24 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Palo Alto Networks, Inc. will post 1.76 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on PANW shares. BTIG Research downgraded shares of Palo Alto Networks from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Citigroup raised their price target on Palo Alto Networks from $205.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Palo Alto Networks from $217.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Susquehanna increased their target price on Palo Alto Networks from $217.50 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Westpark Capital reissued a “hold” rating and set a $196.40 target price on shares of Palo Alto Networks in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, twenty-eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Palo Alto Networks currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Palo Alto Networks news, CEO Nikesh Arora sold 235,492 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.32, for a total value of $43,170,393.44. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,086,404 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $199,159,581.28. This represents a 17.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Josh D. Paul sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.22, for a total value of $126,854.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 47,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,694,210.72. This trade represents a 1.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,122,864 shares of company stock worth $204,315,811. 2.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto Networks, Inc provides cybersecurity solutions worldwide. The company offers firewall appliances and software; and Panorama, a security management solution for the global control of network security platform as a virtual or a physical appliance. It also provides subscription services covering the areas of threat prevention, malware and persistent threat, URL filtering, laptop and mobile device protection, DNS security, Internet of Things security, SaaS security API, and SaaS security inline, as well as threat intelligence, and data loss prevention.